Tuesday, 20 November 2012

We
were up and out bright and early on our first morning in New York. We made our
way via the subway to Brooklyn to visit the studio of Andre Da Loba . I first became aware of
his work on our last visit, where I saw his work on display as Parson’s The New School for Design
after he had completed a stint of teaching there.

We
wondered through the autumn sunshine to his studio based in The Invisible Dog Arts Centre –
the building used to be the home of a factory that made invisible dog leashes,
famous in the 1970’s. We were greeted by, Andre who showed us, into the ground
floor gallery space. The current exhibition was by Brooklyn-based
brothers Steven and William Ladd. Their intricate installation work utilized
materials found in the linking memories and the past to this exhibition and the
building.

We were then taken upstairs in a very ramshackle life
to the studios. Andre allowed us to wander through his studio, which was a
magical wonderland of intrigue, strange figures, wooden blocks, a half painted
horse. He surrounded himself in objects from his culture, reference books, paints,
brushes and curiosity. This was an active and very alive space. He shared his
studio with another illustrator called Joanna
Nerborsky, whose work I am not familiar with but was beautiful. I could
tell Andre enjoyed sharing a studio with her and they were much influenced by
one another.

We were free to wander in and out of the other studio
spaces and came across a door with a sign that read ‘Oliver Jeffers’. We had no idea that
they shared the same building and all of us are huge fans of his work. We went
up to another gallery floor and Oliver came to shyly chat with us.

Andre then treated to us to a little performance,
where he pulled objects he had made out of an old box and told stories about
them. He was very entertaining and talked about how he enjoyed to challenge
what a story could be. Why does it have to be in a book? He liked ‘story
telling devices’ – a theme throughout his work. He believes that the illustrators
who get the most work are those that tell stories. He enjoys how illustration
makes him learn new things. He likes having a reputation as being a bit of a
‘wild card’ and encourages clients to take a risk on him. He believes that
‘style’ is a word that belongs to fashion, not illustration which should be
more about the way you think, the way you see the world and your personal
voice. He wants clients to think, “He can do things like no-one else does”,
because he thinks in a particular way. Andre gave us an absolute treat into his
world and made us more welcome, than we could ever have imagined.

Tues 6th Nov: 2.30pm Stephen Byram

Stephen Byram is both a professional commercial artist
and a fine artist, and for many years has been finding innovative ways to
combine the two activities into a singular body of work. His best known work is
most likely the famous plane wreck on the cover of the Beastie Boys album
Licensed to Ill.

He was so
generous in inviting us to his home in New Jersey, which was about a half hour
bus ride through the Lincoln tunnel. As we entered New Jersey an iconic view of
Manhattan was visible across the Hudson. This was when the students really
realized they were in New York. The view of the city was one they had seen a
thousand times before on postcards and on TV. When we arrived at Stephens’s
studio (which was also his house). Our students were amazed at the amount and
variety of work from sculpture to canvas paintings to CD artwork and poster
design. He had laid out a great selection of his work and gladly answered all
questions from students. This was a fantastic visit, informative, illuminating
and very welcoming. Stephen also offered to respond to any future enquiries our
students might have as they progress with their studies. He is someone we will
certainly look up again when we visit New York in 2015.

Thurs 8th Nov: Michele
Zackheim, School of Visual Arts

I
came across the work and teaching of Michele Zackheim during my ‘play’
research. Michele teaches writing for illustration students or ‘Writing from a Visual Perspective’ at
SVA. I
found this to be a very interesting concept. I actually contacted Michele about
a year ago after reading about her in the ‘Teaching Illustration’ book, as I am really interested to develop this
area in the curriculum on the BA (hons) Illustration. I can see how being able to write alongside or
before image making has so much potential and could help to make visual images
richer.

I have been in contact with Michele throughout
the year and have shared a few projects with her that I have trialed and
thought she may find interesting. When I told Michele that we were coming to
New York, she invited us to attend her class. I took a mix of Level 5 & 6
students (who were particularly interested in narratives of their own) and we
joined a class of 20 masters students on the Illustration programme.

The students had been issued with a
short story called ‘Yellow Woman’
by Leslie Marmon Silko, prior to the session.
Written in 1974, the story tells of woman who
momentarily goes off with a strange man she meets on a walk along the river.
The woman is swept up in the traditional Native Ameriacn myth of Kochininako,
the Yellow Woman, who left her tribe and family to wander for years with the
powerful ka'tsina, or spirit, Whirlwind Man. The story becomes unclear and
blurs the boundaries between myth and everyday experience. The session was then led by one of the students from SVA
who addressed the class and asked them questions regarding their interpretation
of the text. They were all very opinionated and clearly used to discussing work
in this way without fear of being chastised.
Our students joined in the discussion and offered an alternative view of
the text.

In the second session of the class,
Michele provided a range of postcards splayed out on a table. They were a
combination of photographic and artists cards. We were asked to select an image
quickly and without overthinking our decision. It was important to choose an
image that instantly connected with the individual. We were then asked to
answer a series of questions to embellish and add layers to the image: Was it a male or female voice that spoke when
you looked at the image? What era was it from? What colours did it evoke? What
did it smell like inside the image? How do you relate to the image? What does
it say to you?

We then spent 45 minutes, unpacking
these initial thoughts and wrote a short story from the perspective or point of
view from something or someone in the image. We then took it in turns to stand
at the front of the class and read the story aloud. This was a wonderful
experience. The students’ stories were so imaginative and we talk so much about
visual language in our students images on our course but when they read aloud,
you could also hear their personal voice, stance and how they see the world. It
was obvious that there is a connection between, the way they write and the images
they make. The SVA students were keen to talk with our students and some exchanged
contact details. I would be very keen to extend this new link and hope to work
on collaborative projects on the future.

Wed 7th Nov: 11am Charles Hively (3 x 3 Magazine)

We
went back across the bridge to Brooklyn to visit the house and offices of
Illustration Magazine 3 x 3. 3 x 3 is a magazine devoted entirely to contemporary
illustration. It is published in the U.S and distributed worldwide. Not that
widely available in the U.K, we were keen to meet the man behind it.

Charles Hively the founder of 3x3, is its design director and
publisher. His background is in advertising agency background, but he started
out as an illustrator, as an art director he seeked to use illustration wherever
he could. We all crammed into his tiny workspace and listened intently as he
talked passionately about Illustration as a practice, which should be thought
of more highly than it is. “Everyone draws in Kindergarten, then when everyone
grows up the want serious jobs, like lawyers or solicitors. You guys are
special because, you still draw.” 3 x 3 Magazine put out the message that the
illustration industry is active and needs to be used.

Charles would like illustration to be thought of ‘communication design’,
and it is their job to solve problems visually. He sees Seymour Chwast from
Push Pin studios as a classic example of a designer who was able sustain a long
career through the way he solved design challenges. He thinks there only a
handful of very successful illustrator (lots more men!) and that the key to
maintaining a career beyond 10 years, is to have the ability to re-invent
yourself, through pushing the boundaries and not getting stuck in a rut.

He advised the students that they have to be an entrepreneur the minute
they graduate and think how they can constantly promote themselves (every 4 – 6
weeks do something new to remind people you are there.) Charles thinks that Illustrators
tend to under sell themselves, but should look as themselves as a brand. Look
at examples of Photographers website and marketing material for great examples
of ways to showcase your work. Illustration graduates should also know their
worth and not do work for free as it undermines the entire industry – the only
caveat to this, is unless it is something that you really believe in. You
should be prepared BEFORE you leave college about the industry.

His key do’s and dont’s, are:

Always show work in
context,

Bombared, but target the
right people with your work – give them opportunity to say ‘no’!.

Never use Hotmail or Googlemail
accounts as you contact

Have a clean, well updated
website with good thumbnails.

If your work has too
distinct styles then put it on different website – don’t confuse potential
clients.

Interact and collaborate
with Graphic Design students, as they will be the ones commissioning you in the
future.

Make sure you learn how to
make things move.

Make sure that what you
are doing is ‘you’ – copying is not a blueprint for success.

Credit who you did work for
– it’s a good endorsement.

Embed images into emails –
don’t send a link – no-one can be bothered to look.

This
was all really useful and practical information. We all bought copies of ‘Nuts
and Bolts’ and stocked up on past and present copies of the magazine.

Charles’
closing words were, “Figure out your own voice, now. The one word you want
someone to say when they look at your portfolio is WOW!”. Charles has also made a blog post about us.

1.30pm Caitlin
Hackett

This report and photo's are by Cat Webb Level 6 – Thanks Cat.

A small group of us visited the home and studio of Caitlin Hackett, and
yet again we were warmly welcomed! Caitlin studied Fine Art at College
(university), graduating 3 years ago and got her first commission straight off
her end of year show. She admitted that she has never really properly
self-promoted, but a lot of her work comes from shows she does at galleries.

She
has a love for nature, mythology and animals, all of which are heavily featured
in her work, and which also has a surreal quality about it. Caitlin works
in various sizes, from huge scale wall-filling drawings, to CD covers for matal
bands. All of her work is highly intricate and done with ball point pen, fine
line pen and watercolour paints. She explained that she loves to keep drawing
in her spare time, when she's not doing a commissioned piece, just to keep up
with it.

When asked where she gets her ideas and references from, Caitlin
explained that she works mostly from her imagination, especially the personal
pieces and animal pieces. But, for work featuring animals she has never drawn
before or humans, she collects reference images and even uses friends and
her cat as models. This is because people can be more forgiving if an
animal doesn't look quite like it should, but if a human looks wrong people
notice straight away. Caitlin also explained that looking at the way and animal
moves is very important to her, as that helps make her animals look right, ie.
her vulture drawing looks like a vulture (however surreal it
has become!) because she understands how the vulture moves.